Who We Are

The Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness team works from across Turtle Island, also known as Canada. We recognize that Indigenous peoples from many diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities are the traditional guardians of these lands and waters of Turtle Island. We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work here, and work in full respect and recognition of the importance of reconciliation.

WHO WE ARE

The Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness (SCSC) is a global organization that supports individuals and communities around the world in overcoming social isolation and realizing the right to belong. Through research, thought leadership, and advocacy, the Centre works to grow a global movement for belonging. Based in Canada, the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness was founded in 2017 by author, educator and activist Kim Samuel and named in honour of her late father. Since its founding, the Centre has convened four global symposia, sponsored 87 fellows serving 29 partner organizations, and launched innovative service programs — all with the aim of identifying, employing, and scaling best practices for addressing the modern crisis of isolation and its many dimensions, including inequality, loneliness, polarization, and environmental degradation. 

Another foundational element of the organization’s creation was the first-ever university course on social isolation and social connectedness at McGill University’s Institute for the Study of International Development taught by Kim Samuel in 2016. The students who took this class, and who attended other guest lectures by Kim, are now key players in our movement for social connectedness. 

Through its public presence in the media, universities, and publishing, the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness promotes dialogue on the meaning of belonging grounded in four Ps: people, place, power, and purpose. This is to say that belonging comes through our relationships with other people as well as through our rootedness in nature, our ability to influence social, political, and economic decision-making, and our capacity to find shared meaning and purpose in our lives.